Join the Assembly of Dust in Fairfield

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, February 6, 2010

What do Richie Havens, John Scofield, Béla Fleck and Mike Gordon of Phish have in common?

One Northeastern jam band, The Assembly of Dust.

The Assembly of Dust, which is coming to Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne on Sunday, Feb. 14, is currently touring in support of their recent album, "Some Assembly Required," which includes guest performances by Havens, Scofield, Fleck, Gordon and 12 other artists.

"Asking someone to perform on your album is a huge risk because you don't know what they're going to do," said lead singer and songwriter Reid Genauer. "You're releasing some element of control into the hands of the collaborator."

Assembly of Dust -- made up of Adam Terrell, Andy Herrick, John Leccese and Genauer -- has enjoyed success in the Northeast since their formation almost nine years ago; the musicians released three albums by 2007 and developed a large following in the region. But after their third album, Genauer wanted to shake it up.

"First and foremost, the concept was sort of the smaller piece of a larger plot to try to do [something] that sounded like a leap forward," said Genauer. "I think we had made two records -- really three -- that felt very connected and sort of linear. We were hungry to spawn our own creativity. Sometimes you have to work at being creative."

The band invited 16 musicians to join them on their latest album, "Some Assembly Required." On each of the album's 13 tracks, the band works with at least one collaborator. Havens duets with Genauer on "All that I am now." Martin Sexton and guitarist Tony Rice appear on the normally-rowdy AOD tune "Revelry." "Light Blue Lover" features Grace Potter and Rice. Gordon provides a Phishy psychedelic guitar solo on "Arc of the Sun."

"It's the equivalent of adding something to the conversation, a fresh perspective," said Genauer. "It struck me as a powerful way to force ourselves to do something different and have a different conversation than the one we've been having."

It's a something new for a band that's taken their signature country-esque Americana sound around the block for a few years.

It wasn't easy, according to Genauer, who hunted down the musicians he wanted as collaborators and changed the way he approached songwriting. The band found themselves not playing some of their new material live as they normally would have done, so that they would be able to attack the new songs in the studio, where the composition could be more fluid.

"When you play a song live, it takes on a life of its own," said Genauer. So the band first played around with the compositions of their new songs, and then began to experiment with some of the songs they had played live, giving them a new sound. The normally-rollicking "Revelry" was given an acoustic treatment. "Borrowed Feet" was given a different sound as well.

"It was definitely a challenge," said Genauer. "It was uncomfortable at times. It was a gamble and it paid off."

The pay-off was more than musical; the band had the chance to get to know with some of their favorite musicians. Havens told the boys about his first meeting with Jimi Hendrix. Gordon shared his perspective on music. Rice talked about his six standard poodles.

"By and large I was pleasantly surprised," said Genauer. "It's a rush to have people you really respect on your album."

Assembly of Dust is no stranger to Fairfield County. Genauer lives in Rye, N.Y. and the group has played at almost every Gathering of the Vibes music festival held.

Genauer, 37, a former member of jam band Strangefolk, founded Assembly of Dust in 2001. The band's name was inspired, he said, by a common name for churches.

"I had seen Assembly of God used as the name of a church," he said. Genauer started thinking about how to secularize the name and represent humanity, rather than divinity, What he hit on was dust.

"It struck me as a creative name for a church, almost a playful name for something so serious," he said.

Assembly of Dust will be at Fairfield County Theatre's StageOne at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 14. For more information or tickets, visit www.fairfieldtheatre.org